Natural gas futures gave up more ground on Friday, hindered by robust supplies and exceptionally mild late-winter weather conditions.

At A Glance:

  • Heating demand fades
  • Production remains high
  • Storage surplus increases

Coming off a 4.1-cent decline the previous session, the March Nymex gas futures contract on Friday fell another 12.9 cents day/day and settled at $1.603/MMBtu.

NGI’s Spot Gas National Avg. lost 8.0 cents to $1.450.

Futures had jumped Wednesday after Chesapeake Energy Corp., a major Lower 48 natural gas producer, said it would scale back its output this year in response to low prices. The announcement awakened bulls who had waited for firm signs of a production pullback.

However, more would need to follow Chesapeake’s lead to drive down output overall,...